Virginia wins four events on Friday at ACC Swimming and Diving Championships

Courtesy UVA Media Relations

The Virginia women’s swimming and diving team won four events and finished second in the other two on the third night of competition at the 2021 ACC Championships at the Greensboro Aquatic Center.

UVA won the first three individual events and then capped the night off with a win in the 400-yard medley relay. Ella Nelson (Nashville, Tenn.) set an ACC and Meet Record in the 400-yard individual medley and the group of Alex Walsh (Nashville, Tenn.), Alexis Wenger (Detroit, Mich.), Lexi Cuomo (Clifton, Va.) and Kate Douglass (Pelham, N.Y.) combined for an ACC/UVA Record in the 400-yard medley relay.

“Another great day for our ladies here,” head coach Todd DeSorbo said. “We had one of the best prelims sessions ever this morning. Divers rocked on the platform, led by Jocelyn Porter. Tonight, the ladies caught fire early and the flames engulfed. A historic 100 fly final with five women in the A Final and going 1-2 with Kate and Lexi. Ella Nelson followed up with an ACC Record in the 400 IM. Another 1-2 punch in the 200 free with Madden and Valls, in addition to four other women in the 200 free A and B finals. Then, our breaststroke girls finished strong, led by Wenger with a UVA record. Reilly and Carol had great doubles tonight with the 100 fly and 100 back. Reilly, who joined us mid-year, had a second-place finish. We capped off the night with an amazing relay that has eluded us for a few years, finally breaking our program and the ACC record set by an amazing quartet of past Hoos 6 years ago.”

UVA remains in the lead with just one day remaining with 1047 points. NC State is second (879), Louisville third (683.5), Virginia Tech fourth (578) and Notre Dame fifth (509).

Women’s Swimming

UVA started the night strong with five swimmers qualifying for the 100-yard butterfly A Finals. = Douglass and Cuomo finished one-two in the event. Douglass won the ACC title with an ACC Meet Record time of 49.96 and Cuomo took silver in 50.65. Jessica Nava (Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.) placed fifth (51.82), Caroline Gmelich (Rumson, N.J.) was sixth (51.94) and Abby Harter (Broadlands, Va.) finished eighth (52.12). Reilly Tiltmann (Brookfield, Wisc.) won the B Final with a time of 51.88 to finish ninth overall.

Nelson crushed her prelims time to win the 400-yard individual medley in an ACC and UVA record time of 4:02.62. Sophia Wilson (Guildford, Surrey, England) was 18th with a time of 4:18.04.

Virginia took the top two spots in the 200 free as well. Paige Madden (Mobile, Ala.) added to her ACC title collection with a first-place finish in the 200-yard freestyle (1:42.61). Kyla Valls (Miami, Fla.) was second with a season-best swim of 1:44.63. Quinn Schaedler (Austin, Texas) finished eighth with a time of 1:47.30. Julia Menkhaus (Charlotte, N.C.) finished 10th (1:47.59), Maddie Donohoe (Annadale, Va.) was 11th (1:47.63) and Ella Collins (Austin, Texas) was 12th (1:47.74).

Wenger set the ACC and meet record in the prelims of the 100-yard breast and bettered her time in finals with a UVA record of 57.60 but finished just behind NC State’s Sophie Hansson to take second. Walsh placed fourth with an NCAA “A” time of 58.28 and Anna Keating (Vienna, Va.) was sixth (58.81).

Tiltmann finished second in the 100-yard backstroke with a time of 51.50. Gmelich recorded her second top-six finish of the day, placing fifth in 51.96.

UVA and NC State battled back and forth in the 400-yard medley relay, but Douglass pulled away on the freestyle leg to secure the win for the Cavaliers.

Diving

Jocelyn Porter (Cornelius, N.C.) finished 10th on the women’s platform with a score of 235.35, Charlotte Bowen (Dana Point, Calif.) was 22ndh and Jennifer Bell (Pelham, N.Y.) finished 23rd.